What is the average size of a leech

One by one, she took each worm out of its jar and laid it in her hand for us to see, and even pet. Giant Amazon Leech — Haementeria ghilianii , or the giant Amazon leech, can certainly grow to giant proportions. At up to 18 inches long, it is the largest leech in the world. The species was thought to be extinct, from the s until the s, when two adults were collected in French Guiana.

One ended up at the University of California-Berkeley. Grandma Moses, as she was named, produced more than baby leeches in just three years. The worm was just about the width and length of her hand.

Interesting Leeches Facts: Size of a leech depends on the species. Some species can reach 16 inches in length.

Most leeches are usually 0. Body of leeches is composed of 34 segments. Their body is brown or black in color. Leeches have suckers on both ends of their body. Most species have three jaws equipped with small, sharp teeth. Their teeth are even able to pierce thick skin of a hippo. Leech has 32 brains. Due to similarity with the nervous system of humans, leeches are often used in the investigations of brain disorders.

Majority of leeches eat blood. But BSE has ruled out cow blood, for leeches and humans. Carl points out an immobile leech on the bottom of the tank. The bulk of it is storage. A small leech can expand eightfold. Carl sticks his finger in the water and a leech immediately appears. They can digest at different rates. The best method for peace among leeches is to adjust the temperature so they are half asleep and half awake.

The safest leech is a spaced-out leech. Biopharm also experiments with tank size to give leeches the optimal amount of exercise. Carl is tank builder, leech grower, and personal trainer: leeches have to be exercised twice a day. Sometimes it gets more exercise than Carl bargained for. He has often arrived home to find some attached to his ankles. They stick to your shoe and then they dry out. When leeches swim, they travel fast and beautifully.

On land, they move by suction: they suck with the front sucker, then the rear, and that is their locomotion: it is an efficient but not elegant movement. It is nothing like earthworm locomotion, which is done by peristalsis-style burrowing, in waves. But in water, they are different. They are sinuous. It will be packaged in gel and sent to a hospital pharmacy, and sooner or later — its work done — it will be killed.

In , the US Food and Drug Administration gave Hirudo medicinalis an unclassified status as a marketable medical device.

Geographic Range The range extends through parts of western and southern Europe to the Ural mountains and the countries bordering the northeastern Mediterranean Sawyer, Biogeographic Regions palearctic native Habitat The medicinal leech is amphibious, needing both land and water, and resides exclusively in fresh water. Aquatic Biomes lakes and ponds Physical Description The medicinal leech has a cylindrical, dorsoventrally flattened body divided into thirty-three or thirty-four segments.

Reproduction H. Behavior Motility is achieved both in land and water. Resting posture While at rest, the medicinal leech lies under large objects on the shoreline, partially out of water. Shadow reflex The leech is able to detect the movement of shadows above. Sensory behavior The leech is sensitive to light, heat and dessication. Food Habits Hirudo medicinalis is parasitic and the adults feed on the blood of mammals.

Economic Importance for Humans: Positive The medicinal leech, as its name suggests, has historically been used for medicinal purposes, mainly to remove "bad blood" from the diseased. Economic Importance for Humans: Negative The medicinal leech is parasitic on humans and is a source of unpleasant emotions for leech victims and bystanders alike Grzinke, Conservation Status The medicinal leech is rare throughout its range in Europe and extinct in much of its former range.

Glossary Palearctic living in the northern part of the Old World. Read more Classification Kingdom Animalia animals Animalia: information 1 Animalia: pictures Animalia: specimens Animalia: sounds Animalia: maps Clitellata: pictures Arhynchobdellida: pictures 5.

Hirudinidae: pictures 5. Hirudo: pictures 1. Hirudo medicinalis: information 1 Hirudo medicinalis: pictures 1.